Sealing device.



No. 75 ,232. PATENTED APR. 5, 1904. W. E. HEATH.

SEALING DEVICE.

" APPLIGATION FILED 13mm 1901. RENEWED SEPT. 14, 1903. no MODEL.

311 uento z v WiZZz'amEJleatiz wihwoou u: NORRIS PETERS 00.. Pumapmo" wAsmuaToN n c UNITED Y STATES Fatented April 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. HEATH, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO STAND- ARD BOTTLE-CAP CORPORATION, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A COR- PORATION OF DELAWARE.

SEALING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 756,232, dated April 5, 1904.

Application filed December 17, 1901. Renewed September 14, 1903. Serial No. 173,190. (No model'.)

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. HEATH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sealing Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains IO to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain improve ments in sealing devices, and relates more particularly to improvements in sealing devices particularly adapted for use in large-mouth I5 jars or bottles or other large-mouth receptacles; and the objects and nature of my invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art in the light of the following explanations of the construction shown in the accom- 2 panying drawings merely as an example of one device from amongothers within the spirit and scope of my invention.

My invention consists in certain novel features in construction and in combinations and in arrangements of parts, as more fully and particularly pointed out and specified hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the mouth portion of a large-mouthbottle or jar sealed by devices in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the structure shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a corresponding sectional view to Fig. 2, but taken in a 3 5 vertical plane at right angles to the plane of the section of Fig. 2 and showing the seat or shoulder within the bottle-mouth inclined or tapered. Fig. 4-. is a detail perspective view of the spring-retainer ring, showing the same 4 formed of wire round in cross-section. Fig.

5 is adetail sectional view of the spring-retainer ring, showing the same formed of flattened wire.-

In the drawings, 0; is a bottle, jar, or other large mouth receptacle having within its mouth and a distance below its top surrounding edge an annular'sealing seat or shoulder b, above which the internal diameter of the prefer to form said floor of the sealing-shoulder about as shown in Fig. 3, wherein said I annular floor tapers inwardly and upwardly from its outer surrounding edge to its inner surrounding edge, thereby forming the annular inner edge elevated and approximately sharp or abrupt.

' d is the sealing cap or disk, formed of an elastic sealing medium capable of being compressed and preferably attached or cemented to a stifi' top-facing disk or cap 0? or held by friction in a cap, as shown in Fig. 2, said top,

facing or cap usually composed of sheet metal,

although my invention is not so limited. If

desired, this top stifl facing of the sealingdisk can be provided with a central upwardlyprojecting finger-hold d, by means of which the sealing-disk can be lifted from the jar or bottle mouth by the fingers after the retainer has been removed. The sealing-disk is usually flat and circular and of an external diameter approximately equal to the interior diameter of the liquid-passage abovethe sealing-shoulder 6, so that the said disk can be placed in the bottle-mouth, resting on said shoulder with its top facing above the locking-groove or so Y arranged with relation to the locking-groove as to require downward compression of the sealing-disk before the spring-retainer can be inserted, so that the spring-retainer will hold said disk locked in place and under compression to maintain the tight seal desired.

a is the retainer in the form of a split ex pansive spring-ring. This ring is preferably bent from spring-wire, so as to have a tendency to expand orspring open, whereby when.

the ring is compressed and inserted in the bottlcmouth onto the flat top of the sealing-disk it, on being released,willautomatically spring into the locking-groove and rest on the disk and hold the same down in sealing position. This ring can be formed of wire having its bottom and top faces flattened, as shown in Fig. 5 and other figures, or ordinary round wire can be used, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. As at present advised by experience, I find that advantages are attained by employing flattened wire, as an extended bearing-surface on the sealing-disk top is secured and the wire is more firmly held and locked by the downwardly-facing annular shoulder formed by the locking-groove. The ends 0 of the retainer-ring are separated from each other when the ring is in its expanded locking position and one or both ends are bent or deflected directly inwardly at an abrupt angle and provided with a finger piece, hold, or bearing a. Each end is preferably bent inwardly toward the open center of the ring and in the horizontal plane of the ring, and then the wire end is looped over and back to form an eye or loop arranged on edge and approximately radially of the ring. The two finger-holds thus formed are arranged approximately parallel with each other in the open center of the ring and a distance apart when the ring is expanded. By merely pressing these two fingerholds together or toward each other the retainer is most easily and readily compressed and released from thelocking-groove and lifted from the bottle-mouth. The sharp or abrupt angles at the junctions between the ends a and the circular portion of the ring permit said ring portion to fit in the locking-groove throughout its entire length or circle. Usually the said finger-holds are so formed as not to project above the horizontal plane of the top surrounding edge of the bottle-mouth. Advantages are also attained by the angular or inclined formation of the floor of the sealing-shoulder of the bottle-mouth as the sharp elevated edge enters the compressed sealing medium and the inclination of the floor crowds the sealing medium against the vertical wall of the bottle-mouth and forms a double seal.

It is evident that various changes might be made in the forms, constructions,and arrangements of the parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exact constructions shown.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a sealing device, a receptacle having an annular sealing-shoulder within its mouth formed with the inclined top face and elevated inner annular edge, and a locking-shoulder above said sealing-shoulder, in combination with a sealing-disk and a retainer bearing up against said locking-shoulder and forcing and holding the sealing-disk down on said inclined floor and edge of said sealing-shoulder, substantially as described.

A bottle having a sealing-shoulder and a locking-shoulder above said sealing-shoulder, in combination with a sealing device seated on said sealing-shoulder, and a separate split spring-retainer ring seated on said device and expanded beneath said locking-shoulder and having a free end bent inwardly on the face of the sealing device and doubled back and over to form a finger-hold within the circle of said ring and below the plane of the top edge of the bottle-mouth, substantially as described.

3. In combination, in a sealing device, a largemouth bottle or jar having an annular sealingshoulder within its mouth anda locking-shoulder above the sealing-shoulder, a sealing-plug comprising a compressible or sealing medium disk adapted to seat on said sealing-shoulder, a split expansive retainer-ring resting on the top face of the plug and fitting under said locking-shoulder to hold said disk compressed, the free ends of said ring separated and extended inwardly along the top face of said plug to form normally separated finger-holds projecting upwardly Within the circle of the ring, substantially as described.

I. In a sealing device, in combination, a receptacle having an annular sealing-seat within its mouth and a locking-shoulder above said seat, a compressible sealing-disk on said seat, and an expanding spring-retainer ring under said shoulder and seated on said disk and having its separated ends formed into two separated handles or finger-pieces at points Within the circle of the ring projecting above the plane of said circle and located below the top edge of the receptacle-mouth, whereby the ring can be released from the locking-shoulder by pressing said handles together and can then be lifted from the receptacle by said handles While holding the ring contracted, substantially as described.

5. A sealing device comprising a sealing plug or closure and an expanding spring-retainer having its two ends normally sprung apart and both provided with adjacent normally separated finger-holds arranged substantially radial of and within the outer circumference of the retainer, said retainer normally resting from end to end flat on said plug and expanded under a locking-shoulder to hold the plug maintaining the seal, said finger-holds so arranged that they can be pressed toward each other while the retainer is on the plug and thereby contract the retainer and' release the same from locking position whereby the retainer can be lifted and removed while held contracted through the medium of the fingerholds, substantially as described.

6. In a sealing device, the combination of a closure, and an expanding split-ring retainer having its two separated ends provided with sure while held thus contracted, substantially adjacent normally separated finger-holds, as described.

within the outer circumference of the ring and In testimony whereof I affix my signature in projecting above but not below the plane of presence of two witnesses.

the ring, said finger-holds so arranged that WILLIAM-E. HEATH. on being pressed toward each other, the ring Witnesses:

Willcontract and said holds will form handles GEORGE E. FREOH,

by which the ring can be lifted from the 010- E. R. 'PEOK. 

